My Hero
by Flying with Fairies
Summary: Modern P&P. Lizzy realises that she loves Darcy and wants to see him but what if it’s not Lydia who needs saving from Wickham?


Elizabeth Bennet was sitting cross-legged on her bed. She knew that she should be getting ready for bed but wasn't at all tired. Just as it had been the last few months, her mind was plagued by thoughts about William Darcy.

She wasn't sure what to think anymore, she knew now that he was in fact one of the good guys, someone who was so misrepresented in his life, someone that she could really…

Huffing to herself she decided to give up on her pondering and get some sleep.

She got off her bed and her foot touched something on the floor. She knelt down, picking it up, realising it was a set of photographs from her recent holiday with her aunt and uncle. Lizzy recalled that she'd not actually looked through them yet, she'd merely picked them up and left them on her bed, from where they must've fallen.

She smiled as she saw the happy faces of her aunt and uncle, with their arms around each other's waists. The next two pictures were of the three of them together, in one she was doubled over in laughter and in the other she had just about managed to compose herself enough for the picture to be taken. She looked closer at the background and knew that the beautiful surroundings could never be mistaken for another place on Earth. _Pemberley._

Lizzy knew exactly who had taken the picture and if that was not enough to remind her of him, then the next picture, one of the two of them smiling as they were walking along, definitely was.

Some people believe that pictures taken without the subjects' knowledge are far better to look at and reveal much more than those containing ones that are prepared for it. In this case at least, this is true.

The two of them were so focused on each other, so content to just walk and talk. The more she looked, the more she saw. The burning gaze that used to unnerve her was there but it was different. She had learnt to understand that that look was merely just an intensity that came from within him.

It was the look that he had given her months ago when he told her that he loved her, when she had been mislead by his reserved nature and the falsehoods laid at his feet. Back then the declaration of his feelings had made her uneasy and enraged but now it filled her with hope. Hope that she still had a chance.

A few minutes ago, she didn't know what to do or even how she felt. But she had seen her own face too, seen the look that she was giving him and knew that she just wanted the chance to try again. Without really knowing what she was doing, she grabbed her shoes, coat and keys and ran out of her house.

She could feel her feet pounding on the pavement. Even if she wasn't one hundred percent focused on where she wanted to go or rather to whom, her feet would have taken her there anyway. She could feel a pull or more like a tug, somewhere in side her, meaning that she couldn't stop, even if she wanted to.

Before long, Lizzy reached the alleyway by the block of apartments that Darcy's penthouse suite for when he was in the city, was situated on top of.

She heard the sound of footsteps. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she felt uneasy.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this helpful. I was just on my way to see Darcy, to exact some form of revenge on him or at the very least try to get some more money out of him."

"Wickham," she said through her teeth.

"Oh come now, no need to be so curt. Actually, I'm sure that you can help me. Rumour has it that there's something going on between the two of you so maybe you can convince him to help me out."

"I'll never help you. You're a monster!" she exclaimed.

"Ah so you've heard about that. Well never mind. I'll get what I want one way or another."

Lizzy had never stopped walking down the alley but now she had to - he was in front of her and she couldn't get around him.

"Move."

"Nah, you see, if I do that, I've got no hope of avenging myself for what he did to me," he said, as though it sounded at all reasonable.

"He did nothing to you! And I can't be of any help to you so just let me go."

"Actually you can. If something were to happen to you… then that would most likely break him and that's good enough for me."

Lizzy felt her fear rising, apparently her courage only rose with intimidation not threats. She knew that she had every reason to be afraid. The stories of the torture that he'd put poor Georgiana through made her believe that he was well capable of hurting her.

Maybe this time he'd succeed in ending a life too. Maybe he'd be caught and brought to trial again but the only thing that she could hope for - if something happened to her - was that he wouldn't be let off on circumstantial evidence and the word of a crook.

He grabbed her by the arms and attempted to throw her against the wall. She resisted as much as she could and did the only thing that she could think of. She kneed him where it hurt and screamed at the top of her voice.

Wickham quickly recovered and said to her in a seething voice "You're going to regret that!"

He grabbed her by the throat and threw her against the wall. She felt her back take the impact and couldn't help a cry escaping her lips. Wickham punched her and forced her to stay up against the wall using all of his bodyweight. She couldn't move.

****

In the gardens of the apartment block, William Darcy was pacing, pondering the direction of his life. Not knowing what he should do, he prayed for a sign. The high, piercing scream of a woman was not what he was expecting. Straight away he started running towards it.

In the darkness he could see two figures, a woman, whimpering, pressed up against the wall of the alleyway, the other about to strike the woman. He didn't get there in time to stop him but two seconds afterwards, he wrenched the man away and swallowed his surprise at seeing the man, before pummelling him to the ground and though Wickham tried to fight back it was useless, Darcy had him unconscious within a minute. He turned to the woman.

"Are you alright miss?…. Elizabeth? Are you all right? Did he hurt you anywhere else?"

Wordlessly she fell into his arms and burst into tears. He held her close, getting his phone out at the same time to call the police. She hardly heard the phone call through her tears and barely noticed him checking that Wickham was still unconscious on the floor with his foot. She didn't really notice anything apart from the calming whisperings in her ear and the fact that as terrified as she had been a few moments ago, she'd never felt so safe in her entire life, as she did right there, with him.

Within minutes the police arrived and handcuffed a stirring Wickham. Lizzy and Darcy were taken to the police station and separated to give their statements.

After half an hour of giving and going over her statement, Lizzy was shown to a waiting room, where Darcy was waiting for her.

At first the two sat in silence but Lizzy could not allow herself to be so quiet given the circumstances.

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart, for what you did for me and I don't know how I can repay you but I owe you my life and you'll never know how grateful I am for what you did," she began.

"Please Elizabeth, don't make yourself uneasy by trying to thank me. You owe me nothing."

"How can you do that?"

"What?"

"Just sit there so calmly, shrugging off all of my thanks?"

He stood up and exclaimed passionately "Do you think that I'm calm right now? That I'm not thanking my lucky stars that I managed to get to you? I love you more than anything in the entire world and I was just so scared that I would lose you that I just have no idea what to say right now. Or even if I should be saying anything to you of the sort after all that you've been through tonight."

An officer entered the room. "Excuse me, sir, miss but we have everything we need and Wickham -" Lizzy and Darcy both flinched at the name "- has been locked up in the cells so you are free to go. If I may suggest though miss, it would be a good idea if you aren't alone tonight."

"She can come home with me."

"What? I can't impose on you like that."

"Elizabeth, you know that it's no imposition." She looked into his eyes and something that she saw there meant that she couldn't stop herself from agreeing to his suggestion.

The officer left, satisfied that she would be taken care of. The two of them gathered their things and left straight away. The car ride was silent - neither of them knew what to say.

Darcy made sure to enter the road from the other end, so that she wouldn't have to see the alleyway again that night. The elevator ride up to his penthouse suite was tense, neither of them knew what to say and as only one side had made a declaration, it was very awkward.

He let her into the apartment and the two of them walked to the kitchen. Some form of silent communication must have told him that she too could use a hot chocolate at that moment in time.

"Darcy?" she began tentatively, barely above a whisper.

"Yes Elizabeth," he sighed.

"Before we were interrupted and you told me that you love me, did you mean it?"

"Of course I meant it."

"Truly?"

"Truly. Now it is my turn to ask a couple of questions. Firstly, why were you walking through that alleyway at this time of night?" He was really confused about that and wasn't sure quite ready to ask her how she felt, thus avoiding it seemed logical. He also hoped that the answer to this question might help him. He was right.

"I was coming here because I realised that I love you and I didn't want to spend another night away from you. I didn't see the point in waiting, I just wanted to be near you, regardless of what you would say to me when I got here."

For a second, Darcy did nothing and then moved closer to caress her left cheek. She leaned into his hand and taking that as a good sign, he bent his head down towards hers and brushed his lips against her own. She sighed and brought her arms round his neck and pulled him closer to her for a kiss that could never be called merely a brush.

After a short while - neither of them were aware of anything other than each other and therefore couldn't tell how long it had been - she pulled away and let her arms come down to the more comfortable position of round his waist, laid her head on his chest and revelled in the warmth of his arms encircling her. He rested his chin on top of her head and said "Elizabeth, I think it's best if you get some rest now."

"Why do you always call me Elizabeth?"

"Does it bother you?"

"No, I like the way that you say my name."

"Then what does it matter?" he replied, grinning.

He led her to his room and had she been more awake, she might have taken in its splendour but all she could see was that there was a very large, very comfortable bed in her sights. Lizzy lay down on top of the sheets and would have drifted off to sleep, had she not been interrupted.

"Do you really want to sleep in your things? My sister once told me that she fell asleep in her bra and was not happy about it in the morning. Something about bra bones and her ribs…" he trailed off.

"Well what else am I going to wear?"

"I have some clothes that you can wear."

"What about the shirt that you're wearing now?" she asked cheekily, eyeing up the button up shirt.

"But I've been wearing it all day, wouldn't you rather have something clean?"

"It'll smell of you and that will relax me," she mumbled, blushing.

"Okay," he said undoing it. "But only because you look cute when you blush."

She scowled at him but took the shirt he offered and he turned around whilst she changed.

When she was done, he turned back around and looked at her uncertainly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Well it's just that… well I mean, after what you said earlier, do you… want me to… stay with you

tonight?"

She giggled. "Yes but only because you're cute when you're nervous."

"Wretched woman," he muttered but nonetheless the two of them got into bed, and she put her head on his chest, as he wrapped his arms around her.

"You can call me a _wretched woman all you like buddy but you're still my hero."_

"_I'll always keep you safe. I love you Elizabeth."_

"_I love you too William," she replied, right before drifting off to sleep._

_He fell asleep moments later, exhausted by the days events but he had enough alertness to realise that that was the first time she had called him by his first name. And he liked it._


End file.
